Park Leaders Show

Joseph Mayambo wants you to know about the National Parks of Gabon. Joseph wants everyone to know about Gabon National Parks.

Gabon has one of the newest National Park Systems in the world. The World Ranger Congress was a perfect place for Rangers from Gabon to interact and exchange ideas with other Rangers from around the world. Joseph Mayambo and his comrades from Gabon State Parks spread a message of hope and enthusiasm about their parks.

In this episode of the Park Leaders Show, Joseph Mayambo discusses the challenges and opportunities of having such a young National Park Service.

Adrian Fernandez has an influence on young up and coming leaders in the National Park Service. Adrian is the Manager of the ProRanger Program at Temple University.

The ProRanger Program offers a unique opportunity to 12 candidates each year to gain park ranger experience before they become a ranger. In the classroom, they learn the knowledge they need to know, but the program gets them valued experience in the parks as well.

Each summer, the students work as an intern in a National Park. Internships at parks where they get to learn all aspects of park operations. They get experience in urban and rural parks. When their experience with the ProRanger program is complete, they are not only ready to be a park ranger, they are ready to step up as a leader.

In this episode of the Park Leaders Show, Adrian discusses the ProRanger Program. We also hear from Brennan McAuley.

Brennan McAuley is a student in the ProRanger program. Brennan shares his experience in the program and gives us an inside look to being a student working towards becoming a Park Ranger.

Students in the program keep a blog to share their experience. You can find it here. You can follow Brennan on Instagram at brennan_proranger.

Historic means something entirely different in the United Kingdom than it does in the United States. Historic in the states is still fairly new compared to some of the historic buildings and landscapes found in the United Kingdom.

Historic Landscape management in the United Kingdom can help parks in other countries understand how to manage landscape with historical significance.

Janine Conner is a park ranger with the National Trust in the United Kingdom. She works at Tyntesfield, where she cares for a historic landscape.

In this episode of The Park Leaders Show, Janine talks about historic landscape management. Janine also discusses her shadow assignment at Bryce Canyon National Park, her impression of park rangers in the United States, and her experience at the World Ranger Congress.

At the World Ranger Congress, Ravis Henry gave a program about the Navajo culture. Rangers from around the world took in his stories and songs about his culture and experience as a ranger.

Ravis has a story that is unique, even among park rangers. Ravis is a ranger at Canyon De Shelly National Monument. Canyo De Shelly is within the Navajo Nation and Ravis grew up in the park.

Ravis joins the Park Leaders Show to discuss the World Ranger Congress, his unique way to tell stories, growing up where he works, and how parks can try to connect to local tribes.

Are we facing a dangerous conservation crisis? When the Director of US Fish & Wildlife Service says we are facing a conservation crisis, you can believe we have a problem. An article in Field & Stream discussed a speech Director Dan Ashe gave about three issues we are facing in parks and conservation that are moving us towards a crisis.

In this episode of the Park Leaders Show, Director Ashen discusses the problems that are moving parks and conservation agencies towards irrelevancy.

We talk about diversity, young people in the outdoors, disruptive innovations in parks and conservation and the partnership between US Fish & Wildlife and the National Park Service that led to delisting the Island Fox as an endangered species.

Daisy Martinez founded Trash Free Earth so her neighborhood park would look better. The idea spread and Trash Free Earth now hosts regular cleanups where a diverse collection of volunteers come together to make a park look beautiful.

Trash Free Earth has created a patch challenge. People who accomplish all five elements of the challenge receive an exclusive patch.

If a park hosts a cleanup, it will reinforce the idea that the park is responsible for cleaning up. If a community organization organizes and hosts a cleanup, it will spread the idea that the community is responsible for keeping their parks clean.

You can Follow Trash Free Earth on Twitter and Facebook.

Shelton Johnson returns to the Park Leaders Show for episode 101. If you missed part 1 of his interview, you can listen to it here.

In this episode, Shelton talks about the importance of telling stories. Shelton's Buffalo Soldiers program at Yosemite National Park has brought a story back to life that the world nearly forgot.

Shelton also discusses making meaningful connections with people.

"The surest way to change the future is to change today." - Shelton Johnson

Shelton is the author of the novel Gloryland.

Being a park ranger is not usually a job that puts you in the spotlight. But every once in a while, a story gets discovered that needs to be shared with the world. That is what happened to Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson.

When he began telling the story of the Buffalo Soldiers experience in Yosemite, people began to notice. The story of theBuffalo Soldiers led to a pivotal role in Ken Burns' film series about the National Parks. Shelton got to meet Oprah. Shelton got to meet President Obama. Eventually, Shelton got to meet Jody Maberry, host of the Park Leaders Show. No big deal, I know, but it did lead to this interview on the Park Leaders Show.

Shelton discusses the path that lead him from inner city Detroit to being a park ranger in a wilderness park. He also explains why access to the outdoors is a civil rights issue.

Shelton Johnson has also written a novel about Buffalo Soldiers called Gloryland.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch the Ken Burns' National Parks film for free. Just click here.

Our parks and Disney World share many commonalities. Often, people save money and vacation time to visit both places. When guests hold a place in such high regard, what obligation do we have to them?

Jeff Noel joins the Park Leaders Show to discuss how to create excellence.

Jeff Noel spent 30 years at Disney World. The last 15 years at Disney, he taught at the Disney Institue. Over 15 years, Jeff spoke to over 1 Million people about how the Disney Way.

If you want to make a park excellence, there are three area to focus;

1. People
2. Physical resources
3. Processes

Jeff recommends making everyone a VIP - Very Individual Person, even if you can only give them attention for 30 seconds.

You can find out more about Jeff Noel on his website, Twitter, or Facebook.

Recently, at the World Ranger Congress, a group of female delegates gathered to discuss issues woman face. This led me to consider how the female ranger experience is different than the male ranger experience, especially when it comes to leadership.

When it comes to women's leadership, Ann Vertel is someone you want to know. Ann is a 20 year Naval officer, Motivational Psychologist, and leadership expert who helps individuals and organizations develop confident women leaders.

In this episode of the Park Leaders Show, Ann talks about being a leader in a male-dominated profession, the importance of working with a woman mentor, and the importance of developing women leaders. Ann also talks about handling sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, and other issues women might face in the workplace.

To find the resources Ann has created for this show, Click Here.

Ann Vertel's website - www.annvertel.com Ann Vertel on Twitter - @AnnVertel Ann Vertel on Facebook - Ann Vertel